


Changes

by Blitz_Unite



Series: Outsiders OS (writing exercises) [2]
Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coming of Age, Epilogue, Fluff, Multi, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:20:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29753955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blitz_Unite/pseuds/Blitz_Unite
Summary: Ponyboy was growing up and he hated it.---Based on a writing exercise (it's written in the end notes!)
Relationships: Johnny Cade/Ponyboy Curtis, Ponyboy Curtis & Everyone
Series: Outsiders OS (writing exercises) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2183808
Kudos: 13





	Changes

Ponyboy wasn’t sure when it happened. He wasn’t sure when his hair had become mostly dark again. He wasn’t sure when he’d stopped looking at the mirror each time he wore a leather jacket. He wasn’t sure when he’d ended up the same height as Sodapop. Or when he’d filled out enough that girls started being surprised when he’d talk literature. 

It him all at once. When 16 year old him woke up with 18 year old Soda curled around him like usual, except instead of covering him in a warm embrace, the elder was practically clutching at him. Sodapop’s head almost pillowed on Pony’s shoulder. “Huh,” he breathed out. It felt like a big moment. But it was early morning. And he was drowsy. So he went back to sleep. The next time he woke up, he was alone in the bed. Soon, they wouldn’t be sharing anymore. He’d heard Darry talk about getting a small single bed. And he had a sneaking suspicion it might be because of his physical growth, height and width wise. That’s probably why he and Sodapop slept closer to each other, because there wasn’t enough space to leave space between them now. 

“Hey pony!” Soda yelled as he exited the shower, bright grin on full display. “Huh, you beat me to it,”

“Sometimes I can get up early,” Ponyboy smiled, rubbing his eyes.

“Yeah, say that next time you yell at us for you being late,” Sodapop replied cheerfully. He fumbled around to find his clothes, because they never were in the first place anyone looked. 

“Hurry, Sodapop!” Darry called out. Soda shouted back an affirmation, rushing out the door. 

Ponyboy didn’t feel like he should’ve. Like he had in the early, early morning. The smell of change was inapparent, too familiar now to really make him freak out. He jumped in the shower and quickly came out too, his body moving on autopilot. In the living room, Darry was in the kitchen cooking, Johnny and Dally were occupying the couch while Sodapop bustled around, oscillating between different conversations. The middle Curtis brother’s face lit up at the sight of Ponyboy, utter familial adoration adorned his face. 

“Have you lost weight?” Ponyboy blurted, then paled. It was difficult to know these days, what his mind thought, what his body did. For a moment, he was afraid the joy on his brother’s face would disappear, but he only laughed in response. 

“Wanna wrestle and see if that’s right?” Sodapop feigned a jump, before running over to where Darry was calling him. 

“The hell was that about?” Johnny asked, raising an eyebrow. Next to him, Dally rolled an unlit cigarette between his fingers. No smoking in the house. New rules when they’d had a momentary phase for sudden healthiness after the Soc-Johnny fiasco two years ago. Ponyboy shrugged, unsure how to tell his best friend that his entire worldview had changed. Sodapop looked smaller. Johnny looked bigger. Dally looked more gaunt. Darry more tired. Two-Bit sadder. 

Ponyboy was growing up. 

And he thought he might be hating it. 

“You might be right, Soda needs to fill out more!” Dally yelled that last part, barely repressing a smirk when Sodapop’s affectionate outcry reached the living room. Ponyboy plopped himself next to Johnny, who now wasn’t looking like a tiny kid next to them. The latter had grown some muscle too, taking more meals at the Curtis’ house and a fresh job at a protein heavy restaurant as a waiter. His parents had calmed down once Johnny had started bringing some sort of money home. Not enough, and some days he still greeted them with a couple of winces. He would be eighteen in a week though, and he’d be able to move out. Out of all the money he earned at the fancy restaurant, only a quarter of it went to his parents. Now Johnny had enough money saved up to rent a room at a house. 

Things were changing. 

And that was for the best. Ponyboy truly was happy for his friend. But it felt weird now. Everyone else was moving on from phases of their lives, Dally too was lessening his bad habits (courtesy of Sodapop sticking close to him and Dally not wanting to do much of that with the former around lest Darry go to war on him). How had Ponyboy changed?

“Hug me,” he said. 

“What?” Dallas raised an eyebrow. “You good, kid?”

Then Sodapop whirled in, laughing and wrapping his arms around Ponyboy. Always the most physically affectionate. But now Sodapop’s shoulders wouldn’t envelop Ponyboy, in fact, as the latter reciprocated the hug, he was the one who was practically gathering his older brother in his arms. 

Things were changing. 

But some things weren’t, such as Sodapop’s hand on Ponyboy’s head, bringing it to the older one’s shoulder. And Darry ruffling his hair, Johnny sticking by his side albeit a little shyly. Ponyboy sucked in a breath when Johnny brushed against him, he was still taller but the other was slightly stockier than Pony now. Balanced as always. 

Johnny caught his eye and gave him a small smile, Ponyboy returned it, fighting to not let his blood rush to his cheeks. Alas, a battle against biology was always one he lost. Johnny’s cheeks tinged too. The view resulted in a surge of confidence in Ponyboy, and he almost, almost, grabbed Johnny’s hands as they both walked towards the dining table. But he was too late, and Dally shouldered past the two, smirking as he went, effectively ruining the chance. Ponyboy glared, though he wasn’t sure why. 

At least that wasn’t a change, he’d known since a year now, his growing feelings. Apparently everyone else had too, because neither of his brothers had even batted an eye when he’d confessed to them. Sodapop had only enthusiastically said “proud of you for finally finding out!”. 

The worst thing about that though meant that Johnny knew too. Because no way Dally saw it and didn’t immediately start teasing the other over it. Which is why nothing ever amounted out of Ponyboy’s surges of bravery, because Johnny was probably just embarrassed or not sure how to deal with it. Like how Sodapop got when everyone in the world decided to flirt with him even though he wasn’t into it but he was too nice to make them sad or disappointed. Johnny was like that, but more timid. 

Darry placed plates on the table, reminding everyone to be civil. He’d changed too, his eyebrows weren’t always drawn and his laugh came easily. He wasn’t just like their father now, but mother too. Sodapop and Ponyboy had both been trying for just the older brother to come out too, but it was a work in progress. The eldest Curtis raised his eyebrows when Ponyboy and Johnny’s hands touched as they reached for the same thing, Pony blushed and rolled his eyes. This had happened countless times before, but the fact that Darry had noticed it made it special. After breakfast and Darry was ruffling his hair and whispering as he passed by, “Shoot your shot, Pone. Before I find out that you still haven’t done your math homework,”

Ponyboy was going to shove him, but he pulled back and instead went for glaring. Darry had already bustled away though. Johnny was next to Dallas, who caught Pony’s eye and excused himself, slinging Sodapop along by wrapping an arm around the middle brother’s shoulders. 

_ Oh god.  _

“Ponyboy, you see a ghost or what?” Johnny teased his friend, standing up to join the other. 

There was that confidence again. Ponyboy swallowed. “I gotta do a writing project about nature or something, wanna help me bullshit some metaphors?”

“You should take school seriously,” Johnny chided, but there was the smallest of grins on his face as they stepped outside. Ponyboy taking a moment to yell their location at Darry lest they have another repeat of incidents. 

“I do,” Pony insisted. “But you gotta be honest, so much of these tasks are meaningless,”

“Don’t ya love english?”

“I love literature,” he corrected. “My english teacher though, loves ‘modern fiction’. It's all copycats, but how do we appreciate those when we don’t even know the originals? And on top of that, apparently books are ‘boring’. So we only do stupid writing which never improves because we don’t read what makes stories actually good!” He shook his head, looking at Johnny to get across at his point. But whatever he was going to say next left his mouth. Johnny was staring at him, corners of his lips tilting up, eyes soft with dark hair brushing over them, and his skin tinted red at the cheeks and nose. 

That day, Ponyboy decided for sure. Change was good. 

**Author's Note:**

> The exercise was to create an epilogue and while the Outsiders did have a sort of epilogue, I don't think it counts as it didn't really jump ahead in time or anything.


End file.
